Born as Norma Jeane Mortenson inside a charity ward of a dilapidated Los Angeles County Hospital, this beautiful child would spend the first portion of her life facing great hardship.

Her mother, mentally unstable and financially destitute, and her father, ‘unknown’—she would spend these first few years of her childhood moving in and out of foster homes, and praying each night to love and to be loved in return.

When she was just 16 years old, and in order to avoid yet another orphanage stay, she married a merchant marine. And when her new ‘husband’ was deployed to the Pacific, she began her first career working on the assembly line of an aeronautical plant.

It was a grueling, filthy job—but preferable still to the life she had once known.

When asked to describe herself in just a few short words, she replied,

“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”

About Tara Lemieux

Tara Lemieux is a mindful wanderer, and faithful stargazer. She is an ardent explorer and lover of finding things previously undiscovered (or, at the very least, mostly not-uncovered.) When she’s not writing, you can find her walking in the woods and sometimes changing the way we look at things, one simple moment at a time. You can contact her at via her website Mindfully Musing
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Thanks for this and raising the awareness about Marilyn! I love this one: _“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” MM _I am working on a research project about her and find that she was quite wise in her observations of life. http://www.alicetoohey.com

Unfortunately, Marilyn Monroe never actually said that quote. It's a complete fabrication. It does not appear anywhere during her lifetime, not in interviews, press conferences, vintage articles, anecdotes from her friends or her own writings. In fact, it only started circulating on the internet within the last ten years. The quote itself is also completely out of character for Marilyn. There are no other known examples Marilyn referring to herself as selfish, insecure, out of control, or anything similar. While she did acknowledge issues such as her lateness, failure to show up on set, or rumored difficulty to work with, rather than being defiant she offered both plaintive and valid reasons for her flaws, in the hopes of garnering understanding.